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UAE Tightens Noose On BlackBerry Email

In what is sure to be future material for MBA case studies, RIM’s troubles around Asia and the Middle East can’t seem to go away. A new directive from the UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority curtails small-time corporate subscribers from using the Blackberry’s corporate email feature. As to the reason why, go watch the news aout events in Syria, Bahrain, and Yemen.

The restriction, effective May 1, applies only to individuals and businesses with fewer than 20 subscriptions to BlackBerry Enterprise Services accounts, said a spokeswoman for the U.A.E.’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. The regulator didn’t give a reason for its decision.

A detailed statement about the move is expected to be released this week, the spokeswoman said. The regulator first announced the change Thursday. Etisalat, the state-controlled telecom carrier, advised customers of the change in an email, the regulator’s spokeswoman said.

RIM, based in Waterloo, Ontario, has been in direct contact with the regulator, the company said in an email. Email messages are encrypted between a BlackBerry mobile device and a computer server, known as a BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The U.A.E. will still allow individuals and companies with fewer than 20 subscriptions to receive Enterprise services under less-secure BlackBerry Individual Solutions accounts, the regulator said. BES accounts have a higher level of encryption than BIS accounts, said Matthew Reed, a senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media in Dubai.